The organisation representing chief police officers should be stripped of its
power to run operational units in the wake of the undercover officer
scandal, Nick Herbert, the Policing Minister said.

It was clear something went "very wrong" in the case involving undercover officer Mark Kennedy after the trial of six people accused of planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire collapsed, Mr Herbert said.

It emerged that the unit Mr Kennedy worked out of, the National Public Order Intelligence unit, was run by the Association of Chief Police Officers rather than a police force.

The body runs at least five operational units designed to gather intelligence on issues ranging from domestic extremism to vehicle crime.

But Mr Herbert signalled such activities will now be stripped away from Acpo, which will in future be a leadership body.

Instead such units will be run out of a police force or the planned National Crime Agency.

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It came as the Association of Police Authorities warned it may have to stop funding Acpo in the future due to budget cuts.

The APA currently pays half of the body's near £1.7 million annual budget, with the rest coming from the Home Office.

Mr Herbert told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee: "The Government is strongly of the view that there needs to be proper accountability for Acpo and its successor body.

"Units like this should not be operated by Acpo and they should be operated either by a lead police force or in future the National Crime Agency where there is proper governance in place."

Referring to the controversy over Mr Kennedy's role in the collapse of the prosecution, Mr Herbert went on: "It's clear to us all that something operationally has gone very wrong and that is now the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation.

The Metropolitan Police is to take over the running of the National Public Order Intelligence and the force's acting head, Tim Godwin, said police chiefs will in future ensure undercover officers are not left on covert assignments for too long in future.

He said his force would examine whether operations to infiltrate allegedly dangerous groups are necessary and proportionate.

His comments follow concerns about the role played by ex-Met Pc Kennedy, who spent a reported seven years undercover posing as an environmental activist.

Six protesters accused of planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire claimed prosecutors dropped charges against them after Mr Kennedy offered to give evidence on their behalf.

Acpo president Sir Hugh Orde said: "Chief Police Officers firmly support the Government's aim to reposition their professional association to focus on leadership for the police service.

"What is vitally important is that national units have a transparent accountability framework which provides public confidence.

"As president, I have publicly committed to that reform and we hope Government will provide the support necessary to secure it."

Sir Hugh added that Acpo provided a route to ensure national policing units provided an effective and coordinated response to criminality "in the absence of other solutions".

Meanwhile, climate change protestors who intended to occupy and shut down the power station have accused the Crown Prosecution Service of misleading a High Court judge, claiming they are victims of a miscarriage of justice over the controversial use of the undercover police officer.

The last two of 20 activists convicted of planning to break into the plant said the recent emergence of tapes made by Mr Kennedy, which were withheld from the defence by the CPS, could have cleared them and therefore their convictions were unsafe.